Garment hanger



April 1942- M. A. BUSSE 2,278,912

GARMENT HANGER Filed Aug. 1.3. 1940 Patented Apr. 7, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT HANGER Martha Anna Busse, Syracuse, N. Y.- Application August 1 3, 1940, Serial No. 352,459 1 Claim. (01. 24-2305) This invention relates to supporting devices intended to be engaged upon poles, such as hook elements in garment hangers, although it may be also used for supporting other articles, the essential feature of the invention being its construction in such manner that it is coordinated in a novel way with poles, or rods, such as are used in closets for the support of garment hangers.

It is an especially important aim of the invention to construct the hook element, which may be considered the hanger proper, in such manner that it may be secured upon a pole so that it cannot be caused to drop off when adjacent devices are manipulated for removal'of coat hangers or the like from the same pole upon which my invention is adjusted, and which, nevertheless, is adapted for quick manipulation to effect its release from the pole when desired.

A specific aim of the invention is to so Eonstruct the device that it will have additional valuable functions incident to its use as part of a clothes hanger, especially, so that when a multiplicity of garments are hung upon a pole or rod by means of hangers embodying my invention, when one garment is removed, those adjacent will be prevented from being raised, so as to not disturb the position of garments carried thereby, with respect to adjacent garments when in close juxtaposition thereto. In the case of the ordinary coat-hanger with a simple hook, in the movement necessary to remove one garment from the pole, the friction of this garment with those immediately adjacent will cause the adjacent garments to be lifted with the one which is being removed, lifting the coat-hangers of the adjacent garments also, so that after the desired garment is removed, those that were next adjacent thereto are held in elevated position while the hangers by which they have been supported may, or may not, drop into position again upon the pole. In case they do drop back into position, the observer is led to believe that the garments are in good order, whereas in fact, the lower parts will be held above their proper position by friction with the adjacent garments after having been lifted by the removal of the desired garments, and if the coat hangers are in normal position upon the rod or pole at this time, there will be transverse folds formed in such garments left in the closet, so that when such garments are subsequently removed for use, they will be found to have become severely wrinkled by the compression of these folds between adjacent garments. Such folds, of course, may be avoided or rod, but also preventing the lifting of the hook from its normal closed sustaining position, with the advantages in improvement of condition of clothes suspended thereby, as above indicated.

It is also an aim of the invention to present a construction of the device in such manner that it may be produced at approximately the same cost as the ordinary clothes-hanger hook, and will be liable in a minimum degree to de rangement or distortion incident to the suspension of garments thereon, while at the same time attaining the advantages of rapidity and ease of manipulation for emplacement and securement upon a pole, and for removal from the pole, when desired.

Additional objects, advantages and features of invention reside in the construction, arrangement and combination of elements and parts involved in the invention, as will be understood from the following description and accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of a coat rack upon which a hanger hook is incorporated embodying my invention, the hanger element being shown in open position upon a pole of conventional kind.

Figure 2 is an edge view of the hanger element, with the coat rack in section, viewed from the right of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing one of the additional functions of the invention in supporting other hanger hooks or the like, in addition to carrying its attached coat rack.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1, showing the hanger hook in closed position.

There is illustrated a coat rack II), which may be of any conventional form suitable for engaging in the shoulder portion of a coat, or it may represent a skirt hanger, which may be appropriately constructed and formed for such use, or may be any other article which is to be suspended from a pole or rod after the manner illustrated. A hanger hook ll formed of resilient wire is secured in the rack element In, the wire being slightly longer than that required for the ordinary hook element of a coat rack or coat hanger, and comprising a lower rectilinear shank portion I2, inserted through the rack I and headed thereunder as at L, or otherwise secured, and it will be understood that if desired, an integral one-piece coat hanger and hook may be formed in accordance with familiar practices in the art, in which the lower part of the shank will be continued and formed into a rack element, the details of which are not illustrated since this method of bending and shaping wire to form a rack is familiar in devices produced in large number commercially. The shank extends upwardly and is bent into a loop or hook which is substantially in the form of a figure 8, the extremity of the wire having a small hook I 4 formed thereat. The figure 8 hook form is, in the present instance, arranged in a common plane coincident with the longitudinal medial plane of the rack element I0, and the hook H of the extremity of the wire is disposed in a plane substantially at an angle of 45 degrees to the major plane of the hanger hook. In the formation of the hook portion, the shank element I2 is extended vertically and rectilinearly a distance above the rack l0, and is then bent in one direction longitudinally of the rack [0 at an angle of slightly more than 30 degrees, as at I5. The

shank of an ordinary hanger is extended vertically for a distance of approximately an inch or more, while the diagonal portion I5 is extended for about the same distance or slightly further. From the shank of bend mentioned, indicated at I6, the major portion of the wire outwardly thereof is then bent midway of its length to form a nearly circular bight portion l'l, extending over a radius of approximately 240 degrees, tending to assume the permanent form shown in Figure 1, the radius of the curve in the bight I! being somewhat greater than the radius of the periphery of the pole l8 illustrated, in this view, as engaged within the bight H in supporting relation. At each side of the bight H, the wire is bent outwardly and curved downwardly and inwardly, on each side, as at 20, forming respective bows, the one I!) being extended from the diagonal shank portion 15, while the bow 2|] terminates in the hook l4 before mentioned. At the junction of the bight I! with the bows l9 and 20, opposed bill members 2| are formed, and the device initially so formed that these bill members tend to lie spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the diameter of the bar or rod I8, so that the latter may be moved freely out of bight l'l without obstruction. Also, the hook I4 is arranged so that it lies spaced from the diagonal shank portion 15 a distance, forming the mouth opening 22 of the hook, through which the bar l8 may be easily passed, this opening being slightly less than the diameter of the bar, ordinarily, but requiring little effort to separate the hook I4 from the shank portion sufliciently to permit passage of the bar, by simply forcing the hanger hook part against the bar so that the latter will press between the parts and cause them to separate sufficiently thereby.

The wire is of such strength, and tne length of the bows l9 and are so proportioned witl. respect to the bight ll, that when the hook portion 14 is pressed toward the diagonal shank portion IS, the bill members 2| are pressed toward each other, and when the hook I4 is pressed past the diagonal shank 15 with the latter resting against the how 20 at the side next the hook l4, and the device then released from compres sion, the elasticity of the wire stretcher will cause the hook M to be drawn backwardly and engage around the shank portion 15, holding the device closed. When so engaged, the bill members 2| will be held compressed to a spaced relation at a distance less than the diameter of the bar l8, so that the hanger device cannot be raised from the bar any material distance, but the bill members 2| will engage under the bar and-prevent such raising until the hook I4 is released from the shank portion l5. This relation of the parts is indicated in Figure 4.

To efiect release of the device, from a pole or the like, it is only necessary to press upon the central portion of the bows l9 and 20 with the forefinger and palm of one hand, until the hook I4 is freed from the shank portion l5, after which a slight lateral pressure of the how 20 to move the hook l4 out of line with the shank portion l5, and release of the bows l9 and 20 from compression will permit the device to open again to the position shown in Figure 1, when it may be lifted from engagement with the pole I8, without difliculty.

Either when the device is closed as in Figure 4, or open as in Figure 1, an additional coat hanger hock may be suspended by engagement of its bight portion 11 in the hook [4 of another device engaged over the pole I8, as will be readily understood, as indicated in Figure 3, at A.

I claim:

A hanger for coat racks and the like, comprising a member of resilient wire having a bight tion and the outwardly converging side portions tending to move the hook so as to separate from the engaged side portion.

MARTHA ANNA BUSSE. 

